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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
OPINION
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OUR OPINION
TUESDAY. MARCH 7. 2006
CLAS students need better advising process
Graduating seniors have begun the process of getting out of the University. They have to start looking for something to do after school, get ripped off at bookstores one last time on announcements and caps and gowns, maybe send a few invitations, and fill out their graduation paperwork.
Yes, like every other process in universities, students need to 'apply' to graduate. The University checks the name on your degree one more time and makes sure you took all the classes necessary for a degree.
Without proper advising, some students find out at this critical point in their college lives that they didn't take the right classes. Instead of a summer of halcyon days before entering the real world, students find themselves taking that third three-by-three in American Studies no one had reminded them to get out of the way.
Nowhere is this more of a problem than in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
First of all, 17,000 students are enrolled in the college. They are divided up into 53 different departments. These large numbers add up to plenty of opportunities for students to fall through the cracks.
But the college has no unified advising system. It's not built to give students both the academic advising and career planning that the professional schools — business, journalism and others — offer. Advising is left up to departments in the school, which means students often must either do their own advising or seek out a professor for help.
That's not fair. The largest school in the University shouldn't be the hardest to get quality advising in.
For instance, unlike every other
Issue: Advising in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Stance: It should reflect KUs other schools.
school in the University, the college doesn't have online graduation checks. Students still must take the paperwork from Strong Hall to their department and back to be processed.
But even before graduation, the process is inadequate.
Freshmen and sophomores are met with challenges from the start. In these first two years, advising is handled through the Freshman and Sophomore Advising Center. The 10,400 students at the University in their first two years have a grand total of ten academic advisers and six faculty advisers.
That's one academic adviser for every 1,000 students and one faculty adviser for every 1,735 students.
Yet there's certainly enough faculty in the college to help with advising. There are 17,000 students with 741 faculty and about 700 graduate teaching assistants. That's one professor and one GTA for every 24 students.
In the School of Journalism there is a comparable ratio of one faculty member for every 20 students.
But until the college can gather up those resources and make them as effective as other schools, students will keep falling through the cracks. And it's hard to graduate in four if no one advises you about what to take.
John Jordan for the editorial board
Should it cost more to get a safe ride home?
YOUR OPINION
Below are some comments from kansan.com readers regarding Friday's editorial about Student Senate's proposal to increase transportation fees.
(Editor's note: The comments below appear unedited and unaltered. These comments do not necessarily reflect the opinions of The University Daily Kanan.)
"There are thousands of students who don't drink, and thousands more who are responsible enough to bring along friends to drive, call a cab, or not get drunk to the point they can't drive. There is no reason the vast majority of students should have to pay for SafeRide when
they never use it
"That is the argument for really getting rid of everything. It makes no sense for the majority of students to have to support the classes of PhD students either but for some reason we do, I bet most people have never used student legal
services, most parts of the libraries, counseling, most services in the union and 99% of clubs out there. That doesn't me we shouldn't support them. A pay as you go system would
be much more expensive and perhaps even less efficient."
"Drunk drivers affect more than themselves, not merely the students who perpetrate the crime. Malinda Osbourne is right on the money; Safe Ride should be studied and someone out there should make sure the funds it recieves are being put to the most effective use possible. Should we get up in arms about having to pay for government regulated and built roads you never use, or would we rather every single block, street, highway and every single alley had a tollboth collector on it to make sure that you don't have to pay anything unnecessarily? If we wanted to send a message that drunk driving isn't admissible, then it's up to the law enforcement and makers to create an environment of zero tolerance. There isn't a whole lot a student volunteer group who offer people a ride can do. The sad truth is that more people would end up driving drunk than responsibly arranging for a ride home. READ: Most likely underage
READ: Most likely underage people, who the government has deemed too irresponsible to
drive anyway."
Kelli Sparks/KANSAN
An illegal immigrant is an illegal resident. So why are they granted in-state residency?
Funeral protest law strays from free speech rights
COMMENTARY
It was a sad day in Anderson, Mo., on Saturday as the town gathered to mourn the death of Christopher L Marion. Marion, along with three other members of the 101st Airborne Division, was killed in Iraq by a roadside bomb. According to the Joplin Globe, hundreds of friends and strangers alike from all over the state and the midwest came to honor the memory of this brave solider. The real tragedy, however, was that Fred Phelps was not there.
Last week, Missouri passed legislation that outlawed protesting outside a funeral. The law now prevents groups like Phelp's Westboro Baptist Church from holding anti-gay attacks at funerals. While the church's spokeswoman, Shirley Phelps-Rogers, promised the Lawrence Journal-World last week that the group would be to protest no matter what the law said, no members of the Church went to Marion's funeral.
For years, Phelps has tried to spread his anti-gay message to all those willing to listen. He has warned that homosexuals are the reason for all the problems in our country, including the Iraq war. According to an article in the Lawrence Journal-World, Phelp's group has protested at funerals of homosexuals for years, but recently has focused on military fu-
and will probably try and filter out nudity and graphic violence from TV shows. It could even get to the point where groups like the KKK, whose views are very similar to Phelps', are restricted from protesting at all.
I guess what it all comes down to is this: Are all messages, including those of pure hatred, protected by our Constitution? Our founding fathers wrote the Bill of Rights to help ensure that Americans would be free and protected from oppression. So what do you do when someone, like Phelps, uses the First Amendment as justification to actively oppress Americans who are protected by the same Constitution? You do what the original founders of this country meant for us to do: Not take a vaguely written document literally, but instead interpret it and analyze it on a situational basis.
So now it is your turn to analyze the situation. Is it an infringement on our rights that Phelps is now prevented from waving vulgar and offensive signs at funerals? Or was it a violation against the ethical and moral values that govern our society that he was ever allowed to?
Wittler is a Wichita freshman in journalism and political science.
JACOB WITTLER
opinion@kansan.com
nerals. It is the group's belief that God is allowing soldiers in Iraq to die because we allow gays to live in our country. Unfortunately, this new Missouri law now prevents Phelps from sharing his views with the mourning loved ones of the recently deceased.
Personally, I think that this infringement of First Amendment values by the state of Missouri is an outrage. It is our right as Americans to express our feelings of hate and intolerance to anyone we please, including those mourning the deaths of loved ones. Why should people attending a funeral be prevented from hearing such important messages as "God Hates Fags" or "Queers go to Hell"?
Sadly, I'm afraid, this law is only the beginning. We are on a slippery slope now, and our government will only continue to limit our rights. If we can't protest at funerals, then it will only be a matter of time before they outlaw burning crosses in yards. They'll crack down on the media hard
Free for All
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This is to the guy in my accounting lab with the most beautiful eyes I've ever seen in my entire life. You should marry me.
Sarah Connelly, sales manager
864-4462 or adsales@kensan.com.
You know what I think? Hockey is beautiful.
mustaches, boys.
Jennifer Weaver, sales and marketing adviser
864-7668 or jweaver@kansan.com
Is the juice from a can of peas pee?
PAGE 5A
page!
I just have to think about evil things, like chickens with spikes!
Don't put Sudoku in the middle of the damn page. I can't fold the damn newspaper. Wait, can I say damn in the Free-for-All? Don't put it in the middle of the
TALK TO US
Jonathan Kealing, editor
864-4854 or jkealing@kansan.com
Joshua Bicket, managing editor
864-4854 or jbicket@kansan.com
Jason Shead, opinion editor
864-4924 or jehaad@kansan.com
I keep seeing all these feminist articles, and yet none of them argue that they should have to register for the draft. Hmmm,
Nate Karlin, managing editor
884-4854 or nkariln@kansan.com
curious
My friend and I have called into the Free-for-All six times. This is seven. OK, seven times. I think this is a kind of sad Friday night.
I could tell you one thing, the kiosl 34 does not support March Mustache Madness. Shave those
Hi Free-For-All, could you please have the homeless guy who smells like he took a shower in beer today stop hanging out in the Watson Library? Yeah, that'd be
Yeah, I totally have a complicated relationship on Facebook. She totally blew me off tonight at the Ranch.
Oh dear white boy neighbor with the blue Mustang, no one can rap like you can at 8 in the morning.
图
nice.
OK, so KUnited is Ignite?
Or Ignite is KUnited? What's going on here?
mustaches, boys.
Do you think it's a good idea to have car insurance marketed and advertised with big, fast cars with spikes all over them? I
don't. Do you?
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COMMENTARY
Spring training for spring break
ABBY CARTER
opinion@kansan.com
It's about that time when panic attacks begin to take hold of campus. Spring break is less than two weeks away, and the bilkini doesn't look as hot as you had planned.
Don't panic — or worse, crash diet — until spring break. Stick to a clean diet and intensify your workouts a notch to lose those last five pounds. Try to steer clear of salty foods that will make you bloated and retain water. To flush excess water weight out of your system, drink more water. This will actually speed up the process. Water can help you lose weight since it fills you up. According to www.
ivillage.co.uk, water is the fuel that drives metabolism's chemical reactions. So, if you don't drink enough, you're not burning as many calories.
As far as working out goes, make sure you have a clear focus. It's easy to let your mind wander to whatever is on TV when doing cardio, but intensity is lost when you do this. Focus on why you're working out and remind yourself why it's important. This will motivate you to work harder and increase the intensity, leading to more calories being burned.
Try interval training to shock your body. Most people are used to steady-state training, where they maintain the same level throughout their workout. According to the American College of Sports Medicine, more calories are burned in short, high-intensity workouts than in long, low-intensity exercise.
You can do interval training on any type of equipment — the treadmill, stairmaster, stationary bike, elliptical, or my favorite, stadium stairs. Find a comfortable level on the piece of equipment you choose and then bump it up several levels to where you are struggling to maintain the speed or resistance. Then, after 45 seconds to 1 minute, drop back to the comfortable level and recover for a minute to a minute and a half. Repeat for about 20 minutes. Your body will love you.
Don't let all your hard work disappear as soon as spring break comes. You'd be surprised how easy it is to eat healthy when traveling, and how many opportunities you have for exercise. Step out of your normal nutrition zone and try new things. The coasts have an amazing selection of fresh seafood, vegetables and fruits. Many cruises also offer a variety of fresh fish, and different islands bring exotic foods to the table.
You can incorporate exercise wherever you're going. Save money and try to walk as much as possible. Work on your tan while playing beach volleyball or going for a run on the beach. Swimming can burn calories and can add definition to your shoulders and back. Wherever you are, use spring break as a time for relaxation, healthy eating and fun activity.
Carter Is a Shawnee sophomore in health, sport and exercise science.
General questions should be directed to the editor at editor@kansan.com.
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